UT to allocate $60m for gold mining unit next year

By Thomas Sembiring

IDX-listed heavy equipment and mining firm PT United Tractors Tbk (UT) said that it plans to allocate about US$60 million worth of capital expenditure next year for indirect subsidiary PT Sumbawa Jutaraya (SJR), which owns gold mine in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara Province.

?The capex (capital expenditure) will probably be around $60 million next year,? said UT Finance Director Iwan Hadiantoro to Petromindo.com recently.

He said recently that exploration activity at one block, out of the target of eight blocks, has been completed, and has found gold reserves of about 350,000-400,000 oz. The company hopes further exploration activities at the mine, which was acquired in February of last year, would find greater gold reserves.

Iwan said the company plans to start construction of required infrastructure facilities such as road, processing plant, and jetty next year, in the hope it could start production at the end of 2017 or early 2018.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak